Oral Health Survey

The Oral Health Survey collects detailed information on the oral health status, beliefs, attitudes, knowledge and practices of both children and adults in New Zealand. An Oral Health Survey was carried out in 2009. Prior to this, similar surveys were conducted in 1988 and 1976.

Overview

The New Zealand Oral Health Survey collects information about the oral health of New Zealanders and the oral health services they use. It gathers information on the oral health status, beliefs, attitudes, knowledge and practices of children, adults and older adults in New Zealand.

The main objectives of the survey are to:

  • describe the oral health of New Zealand children and adults, and the prevalence and severity of selected oral conditions, including dental injury
  • estimate the prevalence of risk and protective factors associated with these oral health conditions
  • examine the relationship between general health and oral health
  • examine the relationship between adult oral health and child oral health within households
  • describe the use of oral health services, including the nature of barriers to accessing oral health services, and the extent of any unmet need
  • examine inequalities between population subgroups (as defined by age, gender, ethnicity, rurality and socio-economic position)
  • examine changes which have occurred in the oral health of New Zealanders, since previous national surveys
  • provide policy makers with information that can be used to improve oral health and the oral healthcare system

The 2009 New Zealand Oral Health Survey

The 2009 New Zealand Oral Health Survey was carried out from February to December 2009, and consisted of face-to-face interviews and dental examinations. Overall, 4906 New Zealanders participated in the survey interview, with 3196 respondents completing a dental examination.

The report Our Oral Health: Key findings of the 2009 New Zealand Oral Health Survey presents the key results from the survey, focussing on oral health status, protective factors, and service utilisation. The report also presents changes over time since the 1976 and 1988 national oral health surveys, and comparisons with Australia. The report includes online data tables with key results.

Data and statistics

There are four main ways of getting data and statistics from the 2009 New Zealand Oral Health Survey.

  1. Key results from the 2009 New Zealand Oral Health Survey are available in the publication Our Oral Health.
  2. The report includes online data tables with key results in Excel format.
  3. Further analysis of survey results can be requested in some circumstances. Please email [email protected] if you are interested in getting further analysis done.
  4. Survey microdata will be available from the 2009 New Zealand Oral Health Survey to researchers for their own research projects, on certain conditions. More information can be found in the Access to survey microdata section.
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